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USS Cole: Beyond the attack

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Sailors assigned to the USS Cole man the rails as line handlers cast off the ship's lines in Norfolk, Virginia, June 8, 2006. The USS Cole headed on for the Middle East in its first deployment since it was attacked in October 2000, killing 17 US sailors. Charles A. Ordoqui/US Navy/AP/File

Richard Kammen at the Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis. In 35 death-penalty cases, none of his clients has received a death sentence. But Kammen may be facing his biggest challenge yet: He's the lead attorney for the accused terrorist charged in the planning and preparation for the attack on the USS Cole in October 2000, a bombing that killed 17 sailors and wounded several dozen others. Robert Scheer/The Indianapolis Star/AP

Shipmates and families of sailors killed in the terrorist attack on the USS Cole, gather at the Cole Memorial on the Norfolk Naval Base, Va., in October 2005, to remember the sacrifices made by the 17 sailors killed in the attack. Bill Tiernan/The Virginian-Pilot/AP/File

The USS Cole sits on a floating drydock at Northrup Grumman Ship Systems Ingalls Shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss., in September 2001. The ship arrived at Ingalls from Aden, Yemen, and was moved on land where she remained during the restoration. Northrup Grumman Ship Systems/AP/File

The US Navy guided missile destroyer USS Cole is lifted from the water by the Norwegian heavy transport ship MV Blue Marlin, October 31, 2000. Blue Marlin transported the damaged USS Cole back to her homeport of Norfolk, Virginia. Norwegian Offshore Heavy Transport Co./Reuters/File

The starboard propeller and shaft of the damaged destroyer USS Cole dwarf this sailor on board the MV Blue Marlin on December 13, 2000. The Cole was being transported to the United States by the Norwegian commercial lift ship for repairs. US Navy/Reuters/File

General Tommy Franks, commander in chief of the US Central Command, goes over his notes before testifying before a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing October 25, 2000, on the bombing of the USS Cole. Andy Nelson/The Christian Science/File

Injured USS Cole Petty Officer Keisha Stidham cries as she hugs a fellow injured crewman from the ship during a memorial service October 18, 2000, for their 17 fellow crew members killed in an apparent suicide bomb attack. The memorial service was held at the Norfolk Naval Base in Norfolk, Virginia. Jim Bourg/Reuters/File

The USS Cole (DDG 67) is towed away from the port city of Aden, Yemen, into open sea by the Military Sealift Command ocean-going tug USNS Catawba, October 29, 2000. The USS Cole was lifted aboard the Norwegian heavy transport ship MV Blue Marlin, and transported back to the United States. Sgt. Don L. Maes/U.S. Marine Corps/Reuters/File

The port side damage to the guided missile destroyer USS Cole is pictured after it was attacked during a refueling operation in the port of Aden. Aladin Abdel Naby/Reuters/File

A small boat guards the USS Cole in Aden, Yemen, October 20, 2000. Hasan Jamali/AP/File

A military judge at Guantanamo Wednesday cleared the way for the government to prosecute the accused mastermind of the USS Cole bombing based on "sanitized" summaries of classified evidence rather than risk the disclosure of sensitive intelligence sources and methods.